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Tax reform is the only way

When dealing with matters of income, Bangladesh has never fared well.
With most of our governmental sectors inundated by corruption, many in the country get away with evading tax, resulting in the country losing crores in lost revenue.
As such, it is baffling to see the approval of Internal Resources Division’s proposal of Tk3,40,774 crore.
This is overly ambitious, to say the least.
This far exceeds the government’s target last year, and the year before that, and each time the government has failed to meet their targets.
It begs the question: What is the point of such unrealistic goals when it comes to revenue collection?
Experts have already stated that revenue collection will fall short by as much as Tk55,000cr due to not only various governmental failures, such as implementing the new VAT law, but for having propagated a culture of corruption and distrust.
With Bangladesh moving towards bigger and better things in the future, it is crucial that taxation is organised, and that the country has the revenue to fund the various projects which will ensure that the country continues to improve.
The only way forward in this regard is tax reform, with a focus on income tax. It is important that we minimise the amount of “black money” that is currently active in the Bangladeshi economy, making our nation lose billions in lost revenue in the process.
We can no longer have such blatant corruption and inefficiency be a part of our nation’s psyche. This will not only instill trust in the people of the country, but also allow Bangladesh to flourish and prosper.